One of the ways we assess patient care and review opportunities for improvement is through patient and carer stories. These provide crucial information about a patient’s experiences in the care of a hospital or health service.

Patient and carer stories are proven to improve the patient and carer experience by providing opportunities for staff to access unique information that helps identify what we do well and what could be done better. This leads to continuous quality improvement and organisational change, and helps foster a person-centred culture within our health service.

What is a patient /carer story?

A patient/carer story is the record of someone’s experience of healthcare in their own words. Participation is voluntary and you can remain anonymous if you wish.

Any person who has been involved with NNSWLHD in an inpatient, ambulatory or community setting can be invited to participate in a patient/carer story.

NNSWLHD has a structured process for collecting, sharing and managing patient and carer stories.

If you chose to share your story with our staff, insights about your experience will be used in our Quality and Safety reports within NNSWLHD. We may talk about aspects of your experience, but you will not be identified in any reports.

We may present your story, but not your name or identity, at professional conferences, on a website used by health professionals involved in redesigning health services, or in academic and professional journals.

For more information on how you can be involved in sharing a patient or carer story, contact the hospital or health service where you received care.

A patient and carer story is not part of the complaints process. If you wish to make a complaint, please contact our Consumer Relations team, their information can be found here.